VLC 3.1.0 for iOS and UWP introduces ChromeCast support

Great news for VLC users on iOS and UWP platforms – VideoLAN’s popular media player VLC has just been upgraded to VLC 3.1.0 for iOS and UWP, and it now features ChromeCast integration (which was already available on desktop and Android versions)!

VideoLAN paid attention to boosting the hardware encoders for optimal ChromeCast performance. For UWP, they went with Quick Sync Video for Intel-based CPUs, which should be beneficial for overall speed and battery life.

VLC has actually had a QSV encoder since 2013, but the majority of users prefer software encoding, like x264 – thus, it was modified for optimization within the UWP sandbox.

VLC 3.1.0 also comes with several notable bug fixes and an overhaul of the code base, specifically targeting most of Microsoft’s available modern platforms (Windows 8.1 RT, Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, and Xbox One).

For iOS users, VideoLAN added support for playing 360-degree videos that can be rotated by tilting your mobile device. They also improved the audio playback quality, as well as performance optimizations for H.264 and H.265 hardware decoding.

Some notable bug fixes were also made, such as the bug that can cause downloaded files to disappear from your iOS device.

Here is the general changelog for VLC 3.1.0 –

We added a feature many of you waited for: Chromecast support

We fixed a bug where files on your phone were not displayed in VLC

360 videos can be viewed by moving your phone now

Stability and performance improvements when decoding H.264/H.265 in hardware

John is a GNU/Linux expert with a hobbyist's background in C/C++, Web development, storage and file system technologies. In his free time, he maintains custom and vintage PC hardware. He's been compiling his own software from source since the DOS days and still prefers using the command line all these years later.